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The behaviour of dynamical systems is modified by the use of viscoelastic materials. In order to lead realistic complex eigenvalues analysis on dynamical systems, one need to model the behaviour of viscoelastic materials. The experiments show that the stiffness and the damping of such materials are frequency dependent. A large number of models often used are not able to describe this dependence; this is why the generalised Maxwell's model has been chosen. This paper describes a method based on modulus and angle curves to identify the parameters of this model. Between all the different formulations of generalized Maxwell, the pole-zero formulation is the most suited to lead the identification. However, some formulas allow to find the parameters of others formulations like the Prony one. The identification method presented here is based on the asymptotic curves of generalised Maxwell's model. This identification is led in two step, first parameters are initialised and second they are optimised. This method is confronted to others ones. If several viscoelastic materials have to be modelled in the same dynamical system, the size of the finite element model grows as quick as the number of poles. A way to reduce this size consists in constraining the poles to be equal for all materials. The method presented in this paper allows to perform the identification by taking this new constraint into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the possibility of reducing pressure surges in a quasi-rigid pipe network by replacing one of the pipes of the network by a viscoelastic one is examined. The mathematical model consists of a system of two hyperbolic, partial differential equations which are resolved by the method of characteristics using linear interpolation. The calculation at the network junctions is realised by resolving a linear system of equations including the manner various boundary conditions are introduced into the solution. The behaviour law of the viscoelastic pipe is described by the Kelvin-Voigt model. In order to simplify calculations, only the elastic element of this model is considered. For the applications, a constructed computer progrmn written in FORTRAN language is elaborated. The numerical results show the effect of the pipe wall elasticity on the damping of the pressure waves in the networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]